Copy Globe's "Reality Check"

I am on the road in Toronto, so not a lot of blogging, but let me point to an idea that should spread. The Toronto Globe and Mail has a regular feature called Reality Check, where they take claims by politicians and officials, especially ones in negative ads, and research them.

Of course, it's easy to politicise such a task, finding flaws only in the party you don't like, but with proper checks and balances to produce objective journalism, I think every newspaper should have this, and featured prominently. Yes, we see it in blogs and mailing lists, but usually with bias. We need it in newspapers.

It is super hard to get honesty without bias (I am heavily biased). The partnerships people form force them to rewrite truth. I recently caught myself rewriting stuff to be more policically correct. There are so many forces in the world trying to prevent people from keeping a sharp edge.

Since when do the Canadians need a military?

How do spend millions of dollars to lose an election of only a couple hundred thousand voters?

thanks for your cool page about the history of spam, that is how I found your site. :)

Many publishers have, reportedly, stopped fact-checking books which they publish, and newsmedia have generally accepted the books as true. As a result, some media outlets have been able to achieve their political ends while accepting no responsibility whatsoever for ensuring truth or balance: they say they're just reporting on what's already out there.

Richard Clarke and Michael Moore are prime examples of mixing fact and fantasy, and being promoted extensively by the media.

House Dems On a Roll?
In South Dakota yesterday, Democrat Stephanie Herseth defeated Republican Larry Deidrich in a special election to replace at large GOP Congressman Bill Janklow, who resigned in January following a manslaughter conviction. In typical South Dakota fashion, the election was a nail-biter, with Herseth overcoming a multi-million-dollar barrage of national Republican TV ads in the closing weeks.
(Read the entire article on http://www.ndol.org )

Q: Who do Republicans outspend Democrats 10x and yet only win by a few votes?
A: Because it's more expensive to get people to believe lies.

I think it's just time that we accept that media is and always has been biased (remember yellow dog journalism?) and that it's our individual responsibility (lest you think I mean "society's" responsibility) to keep ourselves informed.